And time stood still
by Raven25
Summary: Daniel has left this world, but where is there to go from here?


It was hot here, feverishly hot. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was biting cold. It was difficult to tell. It was dark in this place, and yet cold light shone in from somewhere, white light that seemed to be shining through fathoms of clear water. It was a strange place.  
  
Daniel could feel a strange sensation of rocking back and forth. Either the world was swaying and he was lying still, or he was shaking from side to side involuntarily. It took him a few seconds to realise he was being carried. His eyes remained closed, a strange thing for him. When he woke, he looked around him to make sure he was in the same place as he had been when he went to sleep. Life as first a foster child and then a galactic explorer had given him this habit, if nothing else.  
  
But here, in this place, Daniel's eyes remained closed. This was a different place, and normal rules did not apply here. Even the universal constants of space and time were different here.  
  
Time passed, and things changed.  
  
  
  
They laid the archaeologist on something familiar to him. Even without looking, he knew he was lying on desert sand. He could feel it, the essence of all his memories of childhood. He could feel the rough surface of it, rough and simultaneously soft and yielding.  
  
The covering was gently taken away from his head, and Daniel opened his eyes, blinking in the flickering light. For the first time, the turmoil in his mind seemed to fade away. His constantly overactive, hectic, intuitive mind had slowed its pace. In the wake of the storm, understanding came naturally and easily.  
  
The gentle touch of a hand on his forehead made Daniel sit up. In an unconscious gesture, he pushed his hood back from his head and his hair out of his eyes. The light continued to flicker, but he knew why. He reached outwards, but a hand grabbed hold of his and pushed something into it. He accepted gratefully, but even with his glasses, the light continued to flicker. It was the light of a candle, and it threw large, indistinct shadows on the walls and floor. But somewhere at Daniel's side, it was reflected in a pair of large, lustrous dark eyes.  
  
She was just as Daniel remembered her. The room was just as Daniel remembered it. "Sha're," he said softly, no surprise in his voice. She was here. It made sense. After many, many years, it made sense.  
  
"My Daniel," she said gently, holding out her hand to him. He gripped it, and stood up, shaking and trembling. "It was all a dream," he said softly.  
  
"From here you came, and to this place you have returned," she whispered. "Time stands still here. I have been waiting for you for eternity, and I have been waiting for you for no time at all. And you have come."  
  
  
  
Daniel and Sha're walked in silence towards the sunset. The rough-woven, sand-coloured cloak covering Daniel's head should have protected him from the heat of the desert sun and the cold of a desert night, but it was not needed here, where time stood still. His bare feet might have been burned by the fiery heat of desert sands, but not here.  
  
"What do you remember?" Sha're asked quietly.  
  
Daniel remembered many things. He remembered a lifetime of hue and cry, of upheaval, of feverish activity, of always looking ahead to the next day. He remembered a thirst for knowledge, a quest for freedom, a life spent in service of a world. He remembered life, love, friendship, hatred, anger and desire for revenge. He remembered a world in peril, a desperate attempt, and the resulting pain and fear and blood…  
  
He remembered a guiding hand to lead him to a new path. He remembered saying goodbye…  
  
"I left it all behind," he said sorrowfully. "And then I was brought here…"  
  
"You were brought here through your own choice," she told him. "You were offered what you wanted most in the world, and you took it…"  
  
"But I left them behind!" Daniel said, some of the old passion coming back into his voice.  
  
She shook her head. "You have left no-one. I never left you. I waited for you for forever in a day."  
  
Daniel turned away, and looked out over the strange twilight world, and thought of all he had left, his blue eyes suddenly obscured by mist. "They're calling me," he whispered.  
  
Suddenly, he felt the gentle touch of Sha're's hands, pushing his hair away from his eyes. "Go, then," she said softly. "Go, and come back to me."  
  
Daniel turned to see her outlined in celestial light, and felt himself falling in love again.  
  
Sha're set his spirit free. "Go," she whispered. "Roam free, my love. And come back to me."  
  
  
  
"Where should we go?" asked Jack O'Neill, deliberately keeping the atmosphere light.  
  
"I have no opinion, O'Neill," said Teal'C stoically, leaving Jack to look at Sam, who considered. "Not O'Malley's," she said at last.  
  
"Not helpful, Carter," he informed her, stopping as they reached the elevator. He decided to drop the question for the moment, and the team relapsed into silence, their habitual state these days.  
  
Someone laughed quietly. Someone gave Jack his usual dollop of brains and attitude, and filled the silence by his presence.  
  
Sam jerked her head to one side, trying to follow a movement she couldn't see. Teal'C felt the presence and wondered at it.  
  
Jack waited until the elevator doors were about to close, so no-one saw him smile.  
  
  
  
The voices crying Daniel's name faded away. The light of his spirit began to disappear. From somewhere further than where eyes can see and feet can travel, a single sweet voice called. And this time, he was loath to stay away.  
  
And time stood still.  
  
*fin* 


End file.
